Thursday, September 8, 2011

SSS Compass Rose, Still in the Yard

A while back I mentioned that the Sea Scout Ship Compass Rose was going in for haulout at Bay Marine Boat Works. About three days after she was put up on the hard, I stopped by to take a look. Here's a shot of the port side:

Here's a shot showing the point of the bow:

It's been about five years since the last time she was out of the water, but the bottom was still surprisingly clean. There was a little bit of growth in a few spots back aft, but otherwise it looks like the paint has held up pretty well. Here's a shot of the worst-looking spot:

Here you can see some of the barnacle growth under the stern:

We were expecting the starboard propeller to be bent since we definitely hit something during summer cruise. It was pretty bad, but it turns out the port propeller was pretty badly mangled as well:

Amazingly enough, they say they can iron out both of the screws and make them useful again.

We should be getting word that the boat is ready to go back into the water any minute now.

Stay tuned...

Funny story as a side note: When I went down to the boatyard to check on the Rose, I was on my way home from my drill weekend with the Naval Reserves. Since I was in my usual rush to get away from the reserve center, I was still in my Navy uniform when I walked through the coded access gate at the boatyard just after they'd closed for the day.

As I turned the corner and started down the fairway between all the boats, one of the yard workers walked up to me and asked, "are you here to pick up that thing?" and pointed to a Navy security boat all polished up and sitting on a trailer in the middle of the yard. To rephrase: he was mistakenly offering me the keys to a large, high-speed, rigid-hulled inflatable boat with dual outdrives and all sorts of high-end electronics in its cozy,tricked-out little pilothouse.

I'll admit that the first thought that crossed my mind was saying "Yep, is it all fueled up and ready to go? Throw her in the water and I'll be off," and then seeing how far I could get before anyone caught up with me.

I figure if I'd given them the name of a former executive officer that I disliked, it'd give me a few extra hours before anyone knocked on my door...